1
Q
Dates of the Renaissance period
A
1450-1600
2
Q
Dates of the early Baroque period
A
1600-1700
3
Q
What’s humanism?
A
Intellectual movement and ethical system focused on humans and their values, needs, interests, abilities, dignity, and freedom, often emphasizing secular culture and sensuality over sacred concerns
4
Q
Describe the innovation of moveable-type printing press
A
- Invention in 1450 during Renaissance
- Music printing soon followed -> expanding affordable access to vocal and instrumental music of all genres (sacred and secular)
5
Q
What’s the Protestant Reformation?
A
- AKA Lutheran Reformation
- Early 16th century (1500 and after)
- Martin Luther
- Separation of protestant Christian sects from the Roman Catholic Church
- Leads to great diversity in post-1500 Christian sacred music
6
Q
Guillaume Dufay
A
- 1400-1474
- Received early musical training in northern France (Flanders)
- Received thorough musical training from childhood at Cambrai Cathedral
- Spent more than 25 years in Italy, as a
musician and composer at the courts of various powerful families, or in major cathedrals, including the Papal Chapel in Rome - Composed music in all the sacred and secular genres common to his day (masses, motets, Magnificats, hymns, and chants, as well as secular songs of all types) using a rich musical language that combined techniques of earlier masters (Ars Nova) with new techniques, textures and textual sensitivity of the emerging Renaissance aesthetic
7
Q
What’s special about Guillaume Dufay’s “L’homme armé”?
A
- It’s a cantus-firmus composition (cantus-firmus Mass) that’s based on an extremely popular anonymous, monophonic secular tune known as L’homme armé
(The Armed Man) - Many original secular and sacred pieces composed during the Renaissance were based on this well-known tune
- Typical of the Renaissance Era, with its emphasis on humanism, that sacred music was occasionally treated less strictly and dogmatically than in the early Medieval Period -> but some were opposed to such mixtures of sacred and secular culture
8
Q
What’s word painting?
A
- Music is composed in a way that the sound of the music reflects the meaning of the text
- Ex: an allusion to heaven in the text might be set to a vocal line that is rising in pitch or the mention of “pain” or “tears” in the text might be set to harsh sounding, dark, or dissonant harmony
9
Q
What’s imitative polyphony?
A
- Stylistic development of the Renaissance
- AKA continuous imitation
- Brief fragments of melody (motives) are passed from voice to voice (or instrument to instrument) within the performing group, so that these motives are heard again and again within close proximity of each other, making the music easier to comprehend and follow
- In imitative polyphony the individual parts share brief snippets of melody so that you can occasionally hear the same musical figure occur in one voice after another (‘points of imitation’)
- Much easier to understand than non-imitative polyphony -> aural relationship between the independent parts
- After invention of imitative polyphony, most polyphony composed thereafter is imitative
10
Q
What are 2 of the primary goals of Renaissance composers that the use of imitative polyphony served?
A
- Makes the text clearer since the same words in each voice sometimes have the same fragment of melody
- Makes for music that is more readily understood and appreciated by audiences, because the melodies are reinforced through close repetition
11
Q
What are points of imitation?
A
In imitative polyphony, the individual parts share brief snippets of melody so that you can occasionally hear the same musical figure occur in one voice after another
12
Q
Josquin des Prez
A
- 1450-1521
- Received early musical training in northern France (Flanders)
- Became known as the greatest of the great and influential lineage of Flemish composers
- Moved to Italy, where he served in several royal courts, including those of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza of Milan, Duke Ercole d’Este of Ferrara, and the papal choir in Rome
- Composed both sacred and secular music, setting both canonic sacred texts and contemporary secular poetry by celebrated poets
- Achieved international fame, and multiple printed collections of his works circulated widely
- Known to Martin Luther -> referred to Josquin as “the greatest living composer”
13
Q
What’s a motet?
A
- Genre of sacred vocal music
- Polyphonic vocal genre, usually performed a cappella, that sets any Latin sacred text that doesn’t belong to the Mass or Divine Office
- Definition changes slightly during music history depending on time and place of composition
14
Q
Vicente Lusitano
A
- 1520 - after 1561
- Portuguese composer, music theorist, and Roman Catholic priest (later converted to Protestantism) of African descent
- Sparse biography provides a rare glimpse of African presence in Renaissance Europe’s musical life
- Evidence of Lusitano’s racialized identity -> in 17th-century biographical manuscript in which he’s referred to as ‘homem pardo’
- Characteristics of Lusitano’s professional position within the Catholic Church -> the fact that he never held a benefice (i.e., a paid, permanent position) nor served as a maestro di capella, align with the limitations placed on priests of African descent
- Lack of info about Lusitano is directly related to his failure to find a secure position at church or court (fate of many musicians at the time)
- The institutional racism of both his own time and of later historiographical approaches (except for a few Portuguese scholars) erased him from all histories of Renaissance music until recently
15
Q
Maddalena Casulana
A
- 1544-1583
- Italian composer, lutenist and singer
- Primarily known today for her published madrigal
- Very little is known about her life
- Believed to have studied music in Florence, to have traveled widely, and to have been well known at Italian courts
- Known to have been commissioned to write a large-scale 5-part piece for a royal wedding in Munich, where she traveled at the duke’s expense
- Her 3 books of madrigals, containing a total of 66 works, are the first by a woman to be printed
- Her Primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (Venice, 1568) was dedicated to Isabela de’Medici Orsini (noted patron and musical amateur) -> this spirited manifesto shows Casulana to be a woman of self-assurance
16
Q
What’s a madrigal?
A
- Most important secular vocal genre of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods
- Polyphonic, secular vocal genre invented in Italy in the 16th century (late Renaissance)
- Settings of secular poetry on a variety of topics (love, Greek mythology, etc.) in the vernacular language (always in Italian for Monteverdi and M. Casulana)
- Nearly always settings of celebrated contemporary poetry by someone other
than the composer - Genre of ‘high art’ -> created and performed for the entertainment of royalty and other educated members of royal courts
- Commoners rarely/never heard this music
- Imitated and adapted by international composers in royal courts in France and England, where they created madrigals using poetry in their own languages
17
Q
Claudio Monteverdi
A
- 1567-1643
- Perhaps most important musician in late 16th- and early 17th-century Italy
- Excelled in nearly all the major genres of the period
- His 9 books of madrigals consolidated the achievement of the late Renaissance masters and cultivated new aesthetic and stylistic paradigms for the musical Baroque
- In his operas for Mantua and Venice he took the experiments of the Florentines (who originally invented opera circa 1600) and developed powerful ways of expressing and structuring musical drama
- Composer of high Renaissance and early Baroque music -> Transitional composer who ‘bridged’ between these 2 musical style periods, composing in and embodying the styles and genres of both style periods, composing a great deal of sacred and secular music for voices and instruments in all combinations
- Composed operas that were performed in the local opera houses of Venice -> most of these works survive, and they have earned Monteverdi the title of ‘first great composer of opera’ -> still performed today.
- Traveled regularly to the wealthy Italian court of Ferrara, where he wrote music for a famous group of professional female singers known as the Concerto delle donne
- Published 8 books of madrigals (1587-1643) -> 9th was published after his death
18
Q
Michael Praetorius
A
- 1571-1621
- Composed La Bourée from Terpsichore (1612) & Courante from Terpsichore (1612)
19
Q
What’s a bourée?
A
- Specific genre of Renaissance dance
- AKA borrèia
- A dance of French origin (somewhat resembles the gavotte)
- Quick, in duple time, and melodic phrase starts with a quarter-note anacrusis or “pick-up” -> the 1st note of the melody occurs before the “downbeat” (before the first beat of the meter)
20
Q
What’s a courante?
A
- Specific genre of Renaissance dance
- Quicker dance in which the beat is subdivided into groups of 3 rather than 2
- ‘Courante’ means “running” -> in the late Renaissance the courante was danced with fast running and jumping steps
21
Q
Francesca Caccini
A
- 1587-after 1641
- Composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist (keyboards and stringed instruments), music teacher and musica (all-around musician) serving at the Medici court in Tuscany
- Entered service to the Medici’s in 1607 and served in the women’s court for more than 30 years
- Oldest legitimate child of Giulio Caccini
- Contemporary of Galileo and Monteverdi, both of whom she knew
- Composed at least 17 theatrical works, nearly all of which were performed at court, along with hundreds of shorter vocal works meant for chamber performance
- Little of her music survives
22
Q
What’s a musica/musico?
A
An all-around musician
23
Q
What’s a monody?
A
- New vocal style and texture in 1600
- Writings of Francesca Caccini’s father (& other music theorists in 1600) demonstrated a new style of vocal writing -> monody
- Arias and recitatives fall under the general vocal category of monody -> includes all works that can be correctly referred to as a “song” of one kind or another
- Involves a single vocal melody (solo voice) above an instrumental accompaniment
- Homophonic texture
24
Q
What’s ornamentation?
A
- Instrumentalists would decorate an original melody with faster embellishments or ornaments, to create additional interest as a dance repeats
- Normal practice
25
Origins of Opera
- In the wealthy Italian courts of Florence
- In ~1600
- Invented by a group of intellectuals, poets and musicians who were attempting to recreate the ancient Greek dramas, which they determined had been sung in a very declamatory (speech-like) style
- Originally a genre designed for aristocratic entertainment
- By 1637 the city of Venice opened the first public opera house that sold tickets and operated on basis of profit
- Opera was to become one of the most important public venues for musical entertainment in all of history
26
Describe Opera
* Large-scale musical drama for vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra
* Accompanied solo song (there are also duets, trios, choruses, and other types of vocal music), often interspersed with brief instrumental works that highlight the dramatic action
* Much like plays -> they're divided into multiple acts, which are in turn divided into scenes
* Homophonic -> if you have accompaniment, the music must be at some level homophonic
* Represents a large-scale collaborative effort between composers, librettists, performers, set designers (architects, carpenters), costume designers, stagehands, etc.
* Broad category -> not a genre
- Operas of various types may be divided into distinct genres according to the language of the text (libretto), subject matter, number of acts, etc.
27
Barbara Strozzi
- 1619-1677
- Italian composer and singer who studied with the great Italian opera composer Francesco Cavalli
- Frequently performed at her father's academies, which were gatherings of intellectuals interested in literary and musical arts
- Strozzi never married but had 4 children, 3 of whom entered convents or a monastery
- In addition to madrigals and solo motets, nearly all of her surviving works are arias or cantatas
- Cantatas = most complex works -> lengthy, varied works containing several sections and a mixture of vocal styles, recitative, arioso, and aria
- Cantatas of Baroque period are often divided into several, separate movements, but “early” cantatas (like those of Barbara Strozzi) are continuous works divided into several contrasting sections
- The poetic texts Strozzi chose -> mostly precious love poetry filled with various conceits, ironic and lachrymose by turns
- Many of Strozzi’s longer vocal works feature a recurring refrain between the stanzas (ex: in Fin che tu spiri)
28
What's a secular cantata?
- 17th century
- Large work for solo vocalist, basso continuo, and occasionally other instruments, featuring secular texts that are often sad but might be humorous
- One-movement works divided into several sections featuring a variety of vocal styles (recitative, arioso, and aria) with changing meters and tempos
- Cantatas of this sort were common forms of entertainment at court in 17th Century
29
What's a cappella?
- Means ‘for the choir’
- Type of ensemble
- The use of only voices (without any instruments)
30
What's a balletto?
- Genre of early opera
- Ex: Francesca Caccini's Il liberazione di Ruggeiero dall’isola d'Alcina (1625) -> 75mins long
31
What's an overture?
* Instrumental piece (for orchestra alone) that introduces an opera
- First thing you hear at the beginning of the opera, often before main opera characters come on stage
* Often contain musical themes from the vocal pieces to follow -> ‘foreshadowing’ the action of the opera
32
What's an aria?
* Song for solo voice, often with a larger ensemble (orchestra) playing the accompaniment
* Strongly metrical -> has a strong and recognizable beat (not necessarily fast)
* Melodious or lyrical song that expresses an outpouring of emotion, thereby developing the character of the person singing the aria
* Very lyrical, ‘musically oriented,’ often repeating fragments of the text, and containing melismas that ‘show off’ the technical and expressive abilities of the star singers
* Arias became the most well-known parts of an opera, and the most famous ones were/are often performed as ‘stand-alone works’ without the rest of the opera
* Arias appear in other Baroque-era, large-scale vocal genres (ex: oratorios and secular cantatas and sacred cantatas)
* Arias were composed as ‘stand-alone’ works (works that were/are performed alone without being part of a larger work) -> they're determined by their musical style not by their placement within larger genres to which they were first associated
- Ex: Francesca Caccini, Lasciatemi qui solo (1618) -> lament aria
33
What's a recitative?
* Song that imitates the rhythms and pitch patterns of natural speech
* Usually carries the action and dialogue of an opera (used to forward the action of drama)
* Not very lyrical and melodious -> sounds more like speech or recitation
- Often largely syllabic and contains many repeated pitches
* Good for expressing text in which meaning is important
- Usually doesn't have long melismas or repetitions of text
* Rhythmically ‘free’ or nonmetrical -> contains no strong beat
* Usually accompanied by 1 or 2 instruments (basso continuo) who closely follow the singer (and/or conductor)
* Recitatives appear in other Baroque-era, large-scale vocal genres (ex: oratorios and secular cantatas and sacred cantatas)
* Recitatives were composed as ‘stand-alone’ works (works that were/are performed alone without being part of a larger work) -> they're determined by their musical style not by their placement within larger genres to which they were first associated
34
What are the 2 types/subgenres of song in opera?
- Recitative
- Aria
35
What's a libretto?
* Story or text of an opera, written by the librettist
* Operas were/are intended as entertainment and use secular texts in a vernacular language
* Subject matter of librettos varies widely, covering the range of human experiences, but love, sex and violence are always favorites (even when based on biblical story)
* Earliest operas drew their subject matter from the myths, dramas and histories of ancient Greece and Rome, and often feature mythical figures, gods, etc.
- Early operas contained choruses that comment on the plot and circumstances of the main characters
36
What's a librettist?
- Composer/writer of a libretto
- Rarely the composer herself -> rather someone with literary and poetic skills
37
What's a homophony?
- Type of texture (homophonic texture)
- Music consists of vocal melody over improvised instrumental accompaniment (melody + accompaniment)
38
What's a monophony?
- Type of texture (monophonic texture)
- Music consists only of a single melody line
- Whether sung by an individual, a small group, or a large group, there is only one part and everyone sings that same part
39
What's a polyphony?
- Type of texture (polyphonic texture)
- Music consists of 2 or more different melody lines
- Contrapuntal/counterpoint music is polyphonic
40
What's non-imitative polyphony?
- Contrary to imitative polyphony
- Medieval polyphony
- Harder to understand -> little to no aural relationship between the independent parts
41
What's homorhythm?
- Musical texture in which all of the parts move together rhythmically
- Renaissance music often alternates between polyphonic passages (all parts are rhythmically independent) and homorhythmic passages (all parts move together in the same rhythm)
42
What are the basic human voice ranges?
- Soprano (females, boys, castrati)
- Alto (females, boys, castrati)
- Tenor (adult males)
- Bass (adult males)
43
What's an SATB choir?
4-part choir including (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)
44
What does ‘pardo' mean?
Term appears routinely in 16th- and 17th-century documents as an unambiguous description of free Afro-Portuguese people who enjoyed a level of social mobility and access to resources consistent with Lusitano’s career
45
What was Giovanni Artusi's criticism of Monteverdi’s music?
- In 1600
- Artusi criticized Monteverdi’s madrigals for failure to treat dissonance according to the rules -> Monteverdi emphasized dissonance more strongly than was generally acceptable
46
Describe Kyrie from L’Homme armé Mass
- By Guillaume Dufay
* Genre: Mass movement (Kyrie from early Renaissance Mass)
* Text: Greek & sacred (part of the Mass Ordinary)
* Texture: almost entirely non-imitative polyphony (early Renaissance)
47
Describe Ave Maria . . . virgo serena
- By Josquin des Prez
- Genre: high Renaissance motet
- Text: ancient sacred Latin prayer to the Virgin Mary
- Texture: 4-part imitative polyphony
- Ensemble: a cappella, 4-part choir, SATB
- Form: ternary (3-part, A-B-A’)
48
Describe Heu me Domine
- By Vicente Lusitano
- Genre: motet
- Ensemble: 4-voice
- Appears in Lusitano’s 2nd composition manual to explicitly demonstrate the challenges inherent to singing polyphonic music written using the chromatic genus
- Chromaticism in the melody’s opening ascent
49
What's the chromatic genus?
Pitches whose intervals are one half-step apart
50
Describe Regina CaeliI
- By Vicente Lusitano
- Genre: motet
- Language: Latin (sacred text)
- Ensemble: SATB a cappella
- Texture: imitative polyphony (4 parts)
51
Describe Morir no può il mio cuore
- By Maddalena Casulana
- 1566
- Genre: madrigal (‘Italian madrigal’)
- Text: Italian secular poem about love and longing (‘courtly love’)
- Ensemble: a cappella, SATB (all sung by men in this recording)
- Texture: polyphonic (there are moments in which the parts move in parallel motion (creating one of 2 types of homophony), but most of the piece is polyphonic so not correct to refer to the entire work as ‘homophonic’)
52
Describe La Bourée from Terpsichore
- By Michael Praetorius
- 1612
- Genre: bourée
- Ensemble: mixed consort of instruments (in the posted recording—no instruments are specified in the original printed score)
53
Describe Courante from Terpsichore
- By Michael Praetorius
- 1612
- Genre: courante
- Ensemble: mixed consort of instruments (in the posted recording)
54
What's a consort?
Music with a matched set of instruments (all instruments in the same ‘family’)
55
What's a mixed consort?
The performing group consists of instruments from different families
56
Describe Lasciatemi qui solo
- By Francesca Caccini
- Lament aria
- 1618
- Soprano voice (soloist) with lute, archlute & bass viola da gamba (bass continuo)
57
Describe La liberazione di Ruggierro (Act I excerpt)
- By Francesca Caccini
- Genre: Balletto
- 9mins long
- 1625
58
Describe Fin che tu spiri
- By Barbara Strozzi
- Italian secular cantata
- 1659
- Genre: secular cantata
- Ensemble: in printed score, soprano & basso continuo (instruments not specified). In this recording: soprano voice, lute, harpsichord & viola da gamba
- Texture: homophony
- Text: Italian and secular (torment of unrequited love)
59
What's the basso continuo?
- AKA ‘the continuo’ or ‘the continuo group’ or figured bass
- Accompaniment of 1 or 2 instruments that closely follow the singer (and/or conductor)
Music
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